


Psychedelic Situations

by Ah_Brisket (orphan_account)



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders Has Panic Attacks, Anxious Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Gen, Mind alteration, also!!!, go check out Avery_Kedavra, its suuuuper hidden, makin deals ruh roh, ooooooh its a sequel, see if you can spot the lemony snicket reference
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-24
Updated: 2020-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:35:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22370380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Ah_Brisket
Summary: After getting an idea indirectly planted into his head, Virgil makes a deal with Deceit. It's not a great idea.This is based off of The Upsides and the Downsides by Avery_Kedavra! Yall should uhhhhhhhhhh read it
Relationships: friendship yall - Relationship
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15





	Psychedelic Situations

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Avery_Kedavra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avery_Kedavra/gifts).



Honestly, it wasn't too bad of an argument until the end. It was really more of an everyday one, barely a subplot in one of their videos. It wasn't even one that was worthy of talking about, but we're going to, because it escalated _dramatically._

It began as all bad things tend to do, in the morning, when they weren't even awake all the way. Patton had eaten the last of the Crofter's, which had annoyed Logan, but not enough to actually anger him. Then, things just kept happening, like some sort of series of unfortunate events. Patton missed the new Steven Universe episodes (even though they were in the mind, somehow), Roman lost a competition to prove his honor in the Imagination, Virgil was having a Not-Great anxiety day, minor stuff like that. That's the thing though, minor things build up to form one big major thing, which is just a bit more of a problem. After such a downright crappy day, tensions were high and patience was low. The sides were looking out at the real world, and Virgil voiced one of his worries. That was about the end of Roman's patience.

"Would you just _chill,_ you emo nightmare! You're acting like some..... some _dark_ side!"

Virgil flinched. All they'd done to build up their friendship, and Roman says something like _that?_ "Roman, I was just doing my job, you don't need to get so upset."

"Oh, so you're the only one allowed to be bitter? The one and only melancholy miscreant? It's not all about you, Charlie Frown."

Patton was devastated. His kiddos were just getting better after the whole Deal-With-Deceit debacle, and now they're fighting again? Why do things like this have to happen? He thought things would only get better. Meanwhile, Logan was quietly discontent, something not uncommon on this particular day. Did those two really need to fight right now? It just... really didn't seem productive. At all. "Must you argue? Roman, there was no reason to snap at Virgil. Virgil, please cease such unpractical concerns." Logan paused, trying to come up with some advice for his friend. "Perhaps you should attempt to filter your thoughts, prevent the more... well, the useless thoughts from entering Thomas's consciousness. 

Roman, indignant at first at being scolded but ultimately triumphant at Logan's condemnation towards Virgil.

"Ha! That's right, Emo Nightmare, quit with your meaningless macabre messages, nobody wants that."

"Now hold on a second, kiddo, I don't think Logan meant it like that," Patton piped up for the first time. "Sure Virge was _maybe_ a little bit too negative, but you don't need to be so harsh!" Logan nodded in assent, frowning a bit. "That is correct, you were in the wrong as well, Roman."

Roman scoffed. "Well, _maybe-_ " "No, hes right," Virgil interrupted, "I, uh... I honestly do need to learn how to... filter myself. It's fine, guys." Logan and Patton glanced at each other, sharing a look only they could understand. "Um, kiddo..." Patton began, but was stopped by Roman. "See, look, Padre, all you gotta do is point out somebody's mistakes and they'll learn from them, easy peasy lemon squeezy."

Virgil laughed awkwardly. "Yeah, uh, speaking of, I think I'm going to go to my room, I have to uh... think of what's appropriate and what's not, I guess."

As he vanished from the commons, Virgil missed Patton and Logan sending each other concerned looks and Roman frowning, thinking for the first time that maybe he went too far.

* * *

In some far off crevice of the mind, Virgil sat, stewing on his thoughts. Roman, Patton, and Logan were right, honestly, but it just hurt that they thought he was too _him_ to be likable. He was anxiety, after all, but he supposed that nobody really liked experiencing anxiety, never mind _living_ with it. He really couldn't blame them, but that didn't stop it from _hurting._ But he still wanted them to like him, so that didn't matter. Virgil has spent _years_ just identifying problems, never actually solving them, and it was time to start. 

Okay, so. Filter his thoughts, be less negative, increase productivity. He could do that.

....How does he do that?

Maybe he could just spend more time alone, keep them from seeing his anxiousness. But, no, that wouldn't work, they're too nice. They'd just come to check on him after like, half a day. He was never able to repress his feelings, either. And it's not like he's great at keeping his expressions neutral, fans pointed them out all the time in videos. He could wear brighter, less emo clothing, but then he'd just get insecure about his body and that wouldn't help anything. God, this is why he left the problem solving up to the others. He was just so _terrible_ at it, and he could feel himself getting anxious about figuring out how to be anxious, and wasn't this in character for him? He should just-

"Ahem," a serpentine voice said from behind him. Virgil whipped around, snapping out of the haze he had slipped into accidentally. Surprise surprise, it was Deceit, the slippery snake. "What do you _want,_ Deceit?"

Deceit smirked, or maybe that was just his natural facial expression. Virgil never could tell. Somehow Remus always could, but he doesn't really count, he could do all kinds of weird crap. Like juggle double-sided axe heads with the handles in his mouth. And both are on fire. And so was Remus. And the handles were sharp, too. So, uh, yeah, he doesn't really count. Tuning back into the real world, Virgil growled at Deceit, only managing to make his smirk _ever_ so slightly wider.

"Oh come now, Virgie-" he ignored Virgil snarling at him even more for that little nickname "-it's not as if I would ever want to _help_ you. Perish the thought."

Now Virgil was just confused. Speaking in Deceit's unique brand of English, Deceit apparently did want to help him. But why? He was... Deceit. A liar! Though, he thought that he was good and his friends didn't like him, so maybe that meant Deceit was actually good? Maybe he was spiraling.... hm.

"What do you _want,_ Deceit," Virgil said.

"You definitely do not have a problem, Virgil. I'd _hate_ to fix that."

Virgil rolled his eyes. Did Deceit learn some new trick? The ability to be honest for once? But a stray thought niggled at his mind. What if Deceit really was just trying to help and Virgil ignored him just because of some bad blood from the past? Then _he'd_ be the bad guy, and he's already been the bad guy and he's already bad enough even now, he can't get any worse! He should really just- "A _hem._ Honestly, Virgil, you're just proving my point. You even made me repeat myself."

Virgil paused, trying and probably failing to collect himself. "Fine, then. What _is_ my problem, _Deceit._ " He spat out the other side's name like a curse word, which just made Virgil feel worse. Deceit could feel him giving in."

"Just think about it. You think that The Light Sides are _horrible_ people, and they don't like the very center of your being. If they don't like your core, then they _totally_ like you. Why _wouldn't_ they? It's not like they wanted you to _change_ or anything. Oh, wait, they told you to just this morning! Well, this _certainly_ isn't a sign."

Virgil looked at the floor. Deceit was.... right. He could even feel that odd sort of fog that entered his mind's eye whenever Deceit was right. But what could he do? "But what can I do?"

 _Finally._ It'd taken much longer than Deceit had expected to convince Virgil that he was right all along. He'd even had to use his Falsifying Fog ( _yes,_ he named it that, it had to alliterate or it wouldn't count).

"Well... it's not like I can block out parts of your mind or anything."  
  
Virgil's eyes widened. "Like what you did to the others?"

" _No,_ of _course not."_

Virgil rolled his eyes. Was this really the time for sarcasm? "But what you did was awful! They weren't themselves."

"Yes, but isn't that what you _want?_ It's certainly not what the Light Sides want."

Well. Deceit had a point there. "Yeah, but I just..."

Deceit smirked again. This was starting to sound like some sort of bad fanfiction or something. He really needed to stop smirking, but he would never. It was a part of his character. "You don't have any arguments, Virgil. Why don't you just agree?"

Virgil paused and muttered, "I guess I do." And with that, the last of his protests faded away to nothing. Deceit smiled, not a smirk for once, and held out his hand. Virgil glanced at Deceit's face nervously, but extended his too. They finally shook with much less melodrama than expected. Virgil honestly half expected their hands to, like, catch on fire or something. Either way, the deal was done and over with.

* * *

The next day, Virgil left his room bright and early with a blank look on his face.

**Author's Note:**

> you should really still read Avery_Kedavra their stuff is pretty great!
> 
> what's pacing?


End file.
